drumming secrets

Dear Juan!

20 years ago I bought a Yamaha 900 Series, with toms in sizes 12", 13", 15" and 16". Throug the years I have played a lot on this set. The music I play is jazz & sould with a lot of subtile moments where I use flix or brushes and occasionally sticks. My band has violin, cello, sax and guitars with many dynamics from pianissimo till forteforte. We are preparing for a tour and I need to take care of my drum set now. In overall the set sounds ok, but I need it to sound good! On top all this I am very insecure about my bass drum.... I need it to be warm sounding with a short attack (tick). Should I use a batter head only? Or a front head with a big hole in it?

I surely appreciate your advice on this matter...

Greet,

Arnauld van Hees

Hello Arnauld,

Thanks for your question.....

From reading your question it looks like you are a very dynamic drummer. Your 900 Series drum kit is a very good set and I know that when you find the right combination of drum heads you can controll the sound even when you play with a lot of dynamic like you seem to do!

First of all your bass drum: have you ever tried the Aqarian Force 1 as a batter head and any other single ply head on the front? If you want you can cut a hole in the front for Remo front hole sticker, feel free to do so, but use a Remo front hole sticker to make sure it's gonna be a round hole; this will prevent the hole from breaking if a mike is pulled out in a bit of a rush during the change over on a  festival...

I would strongly advice you to use an Evans EQ pad for damping the bass drum batter head; this way you will get a controlled full sound that will create a 'tick' still.

Snare: Aquarian Modern Vintage, toms: Aquarian Respons 2

A lot of succes with it and enjoy playing your tour!

Juan